Five Times
by Gu4rd14n-Kn1ghts
Summary: Five Times the Team met Eliot's wife.  And possibly one time they didn't, and a sixth time they didn't have to.  Eliot/fem!Dean
1. The Hustle Job

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own _Supernatural _or _Leverage._ I am simply playing around with the characters for my own enjoyment.

**RATING: **M**  
**

**WARNING: **Language; violence; specific spoilers for _The Stork Job_, _The 12 Steps Job, The First David Job, The Second David Job_ and _The Tap-Out Job _and vague spoilers for the rest of _Leverage; _specific spoilers for _Skin, The Usual Suspects, Nightshifter_ and _No Rest For the Wicked_, and vague spoilers for the rest of _Supernatural; _genderswitch: fem!Dean **  
**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **I recently became addicted to Leverage, and I absolutely adore Eliot Spencer. I also love Dean Winchester. I've had this series of one-shots floating around in my head for a while where the Leverage Team meets Eliot's wife, Deanna Winchester. At first, I was just going to do one long story where they find out about her, but I had at least five different ideas of how they would find out about her, so it sorta became one of those 'Five times they met her, and one time they didn't/didn't have to' stories. I just haven't decided on the last one for sure.

Anyway, let me know what y'all think. I've got the second one finished, and the third about half done. The fourth one has been started, but I'm not entirely sure I like where it's going, so we'll see on that one.

* * *

Eliot Spencer walked into the bar with the rest of his team. Normally they celebrated a successful job by going out to a fancy restaurant.

He never felt entirely comfortable in those situations, and this job had been harder on him than normal. He hadn't been in a situation like that for a very long time.

Being in that ring, letting that guy pound on him, had gone against every survival instinct he had cultivated over the years. Letting that rage go so he could sell the fact that he had lost control, but pulling it back just enough to not actually kill the guy had been one of the hardest things he had ever done.

The rest of the team had recognized that he was struggling and needed to wind down in his own way, so they had let him pick the place tonight.

He hadn't really known where he'd pick. He had just been driving, knowing he'd know what he was looking for when he found it.

It was odd having Hardison, Parker and Sophie in the back, with Nate up front with him, instead of being in the back of Nate's car with Hardison and Parker.

He had to admit, he kinda liked it.

He really hoped no one asked why he had chosen this particular place. He had no idea what he'd say.

He had seen a car that he thought he recognized as he drove past, so he had pulled in. He had managed to park right next to the black car.

Up close, it looked exactly like the one he thought it was. Same make, same model. Hell, same year, even.

But the license plate wasn't the same, and he knew there was no way she would have traded in her Kansas plates.

He sighed dejectedly and collected drinks for everyone, nodding to the man waiting next to him as he left.

"Now, why am I so not surprised that the rough and rowdy biker club is your scene?" Hardison asked as Eliot approached the table the team had chosen.

He managed to ignore the hacker, sitting with his back to the wall, and a good view of most of the bar.

His survival instincts were riding him hard, for ignoring them this week, and he wasn't going to make that mistake again. Even if it had turned out in the end.

He sat in silence, nursing his beer.

He knew it had been stupid to get his hopes up about the car. Rumor was that she was dead, but he had hoped that-

He shook his head.

She was good, sure. But there was always someone better in their line of work. Plus, she was tiny.

Good, but tiny. It wouldn't take much to overwhelm her and turn her size into a liability instead of an asset.

"She's not bad."

Parker's voice suddenly cut into his musings.

"Hm?" he asked.

"The girl with the darts. She's hustling them. Doing pretty good, too. Pretending she doesn't know how to play. She's got them completely hooked."

The whole team looked towards the dartboard. They never passed up the opportunity to observe other thieves. Even if they looked down on hustling in bars as something for amateurs.

Well, the rest of them.

Eliot used to hustle in bars all the time. Usually as part of a bigger con. Him and-

His eyes widened fractionally when he spotted the girl Parker was talking about. He hadn't been imagining things. That really had been the car. He just couldn't believe she had finally gotten rid of the hick plates.

He took a swig of his beer to hide his grin from the team.

He recognized the game, too. It had been one of their favorites. He wondered if she had a new partner.

That made his grin dim slightly. He didn't see anyone around the bar who seemed a likely candidate, but that didn't mean she didn't have one.

He watched as she threw a dart, getting the wall, about a foot from the board.

"She's brilliant," Sophie said as the next throw hit the outer ring. "They have no clue she's playing them."

Eliot hid a smirk behind his beer this time. She had been decent enough before they had met, but he had taught her everything he knew, making them an unbeatable team.

"She's not bad. But if I were her, I'd just lift the whole wallet. More money that way. Less risk," Parker said.

She threw the last dart and hit the bullseye with the perfect amount of surprise and excitement. She bounced on her toes, and latched on to the man who had been teaching her, laughing excitedly.

Eliot shook his head slightly. "It's not about the money, Parker," he said, draining his beer.

"It's about the game." He set his bottle on the table and headed towards the game, watching as she went over to the board and collected the darts, returning to the guy.

"What are- Eliot, what the hell are you doing?" Nate demanded over the com links that they wore everywhere.

Eliot ignored him.

"I can't believe I hit it!" she gushed, latching back onto his arm. "You're an incredible teacher."

"I'll give you three K if you can do that with your next three throws," Eliot said, cutting in.

"Eliot!" Sophie hissed in his ear.

"Stay out of this," he hissed, not moving his lips.

He waited. Her response would tell him what was going on.

She turned her head to look at him, taking in his face, and the yellowing bruise around his eye, before meeting his gaze and taking a step in his direction.

He could feel four pairs of eyes on his back from his table, and half a dozen other pairs from various places around the room.

He reckoned those were the rest of the thugs.

Which brought the total up to an even baker's dozen. Terrific. When they got out of this, he was so kicking her ass.

"That's impossible. She only just learned how to play. That last shot was just a lucky throw," the man said.

Both of them ignored him, maintaining eye contact for a few seconds.

She suddenly threw the darts at the board, one right after another, without looking away from him.

Eliot smirked. His favorite version. But he was definitely kicking her ass after this.

"Cough it up, Cowboy," she said, stepping closer and holding her hand out for the cash.

He pulled out his wallet and counted out thirty hundred dollar bills, putting them in her hand as his team sputtered in his ear, and the guy sputtered behind her.

"Th- that's impossible!" he stammered out.

She turned and slipped the money into her jacket pocket. When she removed her hand, she slid it behind her back, letting the close proximity of their bodies hide the transfer of a round, palm sized object.

At the same time, he brought up a webpage on his phone.

"Not when you're this good," he said. He held up the phone, showing off the news story of her winning the local dart competition back in Kentucky.

"You were hustling me? For a hundred bucks?" the man demanded, half outraged and half shocked.

She let out a chuckle. "It wasn't about the money, Sweetheart," she said, mimicking Eliot's Kentucky accent.

The guy frowned, trying to figure out what she was talking about, so Eliot decided to give him a hand. He held up the stone she had slipped him.

"I just needed ya distracted fer a little bit."

"You little-"

"Now, now. Didn't yer mama ever tell ya not ta cuss when there's a lady around?"

"She's no lady."

The man nodded and the dozen guys from around the room got to their feet and began attacking them.

They easily fell into a rhythm, as if they had never parted ways, guarding each other's back as they began taking out the men.

The rest of the patrons cleared out of the bar, leaving just Eliot's friends, although they- thankfully- stayed out of the way.

The attackers finally managed to separate them, sending them rolling in opposite directions of the bar.

Eliot rolled to his feet, then froze when he saw that the five remaining men had guns aimed at her.

She giggled and Eliot couldn't hold back his smirk.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing. I just really don't like guns."

"Give me the stone, or she gets a chest full of lead."

Eliot shrugged. "I'd like ta help ya fellas. I really would. But I seem ta have misplaced it in the fight." He turned out his pockets.

"Search him."

One of the men approached him. He stood still, letting himself be searched.

"He doesn't have it."

"Then where-"

The man cut himself off, noticing that she had been inching towards the door.

"Lookin for this, Sweetheart?" she asked with a smirk, holding up the stone.

She ducked out the door as the men opened fire.

"Damn. She is good," Parker muttered over the com. "I didn't even see her lift it. And in the middle of a fight, too."

Eliot took advantage of the distraction to take out the man who had searched him, using him as a shield against the bullets coming towards him.

Three of the men managed to get out the door after her, but he took out the last one, snapping his neck.

"Like I said. I really don't like guns," he said, letting the man drop to the ground.

He ignored the others and took off out the door.

They followed him, and they caught up to her in time to watch her gut the last man, letting him drop to the ground at her feet.

She met Eliot's eyes. "I'll get the car," she said.

Eliot knew that meant she wanted him to stay and guard the bodies. Unfortunately, this time he wouldn't be able to. "There's two more back at the bar," he said.

She raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged.

"Told 'em I didn't like guns. They fired anyway."

She shrugged. "Fair enough."

"Stay here. We'll be back," Eliot said, looking at his team. Fortunately, they were all still in shock at seeing the two of them kill the five men who had shot at them, and didn't protest.

She and Eliot walked back to the bar in silence. She grabbed a tarp out of the trunk of the Impala and followed him into the bar. They wrapped the two bodies in the tarp and loaded them into the back of the van before driving both vehicles back to the others.

She grabbed another tarp and they loaded the other three bodies in with the first two.

"Where we takin' 'em?"

"I know a place. Try to keep up?"

"Try to lose me, Darlin'."

She grinned as she took off in the Impala.

"Eliot?" Sophie asked as he tore off after her.

"Not now, Sophie."

They drove about twenty minutes outside of town, pulling into a field. She opened the trunk while Eliot began unloading the bodies.

"You two. Start digging." She tossed two shovels to Nate and Hardison. "You two, search their pockets. Take anything useful," she said, pointing at Sophie and Parker.

Hardison, Sophie and Parker looked at Nate, who looked at Eliot.

"Just go with it. I'll explain once we deal with the bodies and get the hell out of here."

Nate nodded at the others and they got to work.

"What are you doing?" Eliot asked after a moment, pausing in lifting one of the bodies.

"Making sure the wrong person doesn't get her hands on this stone."

Parker pouted, and Eliot laughed. "Good luck with that one, Darlin'. Parker is one damn good thief. I don't even trust my own wallet around her."

"You don't deserve it. Handing over money like that," Parker mumbled.

Eliot ignored her and jumped down out of the van. "Give me that," he said, taking the shovel from Hardison and shoving the hacker out of the way when he noticed that the younger man wasn't making much progress.

"Yeah, sure. Just muscle people around. That's all you're good for."

"Hardison, if you don't shut up, you'll be joinin' these five. Alive," Eliot growled, finally getting sick of the muttered comments the man had been making over the coms since he had wandered over to the dart game.

She laughed and took the second shovel from Nate. "Thanks. I'll take it from here."

Once again, they fell into an easy rhythm, digging a large square, about a foot deep.

"That's not going to be big enough to bury five dead bodies," Nate said.

"Oh, we ain't buryin' no bodies," Eliot said, dropping the shovel when they were finished.

"Then what- are we doin'? Cuz, ya know, I don't feel like havin' a murder count on my rap sheet," Hardison said.

She dug something out of the trunk and turned towards him. "I got the salt," she said.

"I got the matches," Eliot said, holding up a pack.

"And I got the marshmallows," she finished with a grin.

Eliot matched it and they got to work. She doused the bodies with lighter fluid and dumped salt on them. They stood around the hole and Eliot lit the matches and dropped the whole pack in, watching the whole thing light up.

They stood in silence while the bodies burned. Hardison and Sophie had moved upwind of the smoke so they wouldn't have to smell the burning flesh. Parker seemed fascinated by the flames and Nate stood there with an unreadable expression on his face.

When the flames were almost completely out, the two of them picked up the shovels and began shoveling the dirt back into the square. That served the purpose of smothering the remaining flames as well as hiding the ashes.

"Okay, what's going on, Eliot?" Nate demanded when everything was packed up and loaded back into the trunk of the Impala.

"In a minute, Nate. First. You," Eliot growled, stalking towards her, a glare on his face.

She backed away a few paces before turning to run.

"Oh, no, you don't."

Eliot picked up his pace and grabbed her wrist before she could go too far. He spun her towards his body, gripping her upper arms as she collided with his chest.

"What the hell d'ya think yer doin'?" he demanded. "You were in way over yer head. What would ya have done if I hadn't decided to come to this bar tonight? Huh?"

"I'm sorry. I wasn't going to go that far. I just- needed to distract him long enough for the phantom burglary to take place. I wasn't actually going to take them on. I was just going to make enough money for a room tonight. That's it. I promise."

He stared down at her, searching her face. She had never been able to lie to him, so he knew that she was telling the truth.

"If you ever do somethin' that stupid again, I'll-"

"You'll what? Spank me?"

She smirked up at him and he couldn't take it any longer.

He released one of her arms and brought his hand up to cup the back of her head, kissing her harshly.

Her free arm came up to wrap around his neck, pressing closer to his body.

They kissed for a while, ignoring everything around them.

"El. Eli. Eliot!"

Nate's shout finally broke through, and they reluctantly separated, although just barely enough for them to look at the others.

"Nate, I haven't seen Deanna in over five years. Could you just- go away so we can reconnect?"

"No, I will not just go away. What the hell was that all about back in that bar? And who the hell is Deanna?"

"Deanna Winchester. My boss, Nate Ford. Nate, Deanna."

"Dude. I- I know you," Hardison said, pointing at Deanna. "You're on the FBI's most wanted list. Eliot, she's a wanted felon."

She blinked. "Pot. Kettle. Black. Although, unlike you guys, I'm on that list for stuff I didn't actually didn't do."

"You mean the murders in Baltimore and St. Louis. An- and the bank robbery in Milwaukee."

"Yeah, those weren't me," she said, shaking her head slightly.

"Oh- oh right. St. Louis was a shapeshifter creature who only looked like you."

"You- saw my confession tape." She blew out a breath. "I knew I should have had Ash make that video disappear."

"So, Eliot," Nate said, cutting off whatever Hardison was going to say in response. "What happened to 'I don't work with a team'?"

"Deanna's not my team," Eliot replied, tightening his arm around Deanna's shoulders. "She's my wife."

The others stared at them. "Your what?" Parker asked.

"My wife."

"Eliot?"

He shrugged. "We got married in Vegas on her eighteenth birthday."

"So, you're married," Nate said.

"Yup."

"How did we miss that?" Hardison asked.

"I didn't want you to know."

"So you lied to us," Sophie said.

"Oh, no, Darlin'," Eliot said. "Don't you dare. You were the one who conned the team, not me. And I never lied. I just left out some information."

"You said you worked together before?" Nate asked. "I know your file, Eliot. I chased you. How did that not end up getting out?"

"Because we never got caught," Deanna said. "None of our marks could ever agree what we looked like. No one was able to track us."

"Wait. Danny and Cate?" Parker asked.

Deanna leaned back against Eliot's chest with a grin.

"You're Danny and Cate?" Sophie asked.

"Naw, Man. Th- that's impossible. Danny and Cate were legendary. Like- like a modern day Bonnie and Clyde. Bank robberies, home invasions, museum heists. You name it, they did it. There is no way the two of you could be Danny and Cate. The- they were- were- brilliant. They hacked some of the most secure security systems in the country. Yo- you can't even check your email, Man."

Deanna tilted her head back. "Let me guess. They think all you're good for is flirting with women and punching people in the face."

He shrugged. "That's about right."

She laughed. "Yeah, same with my brother."

"You flirt with women?"

She shrugged. "Men, women. Whatever gets the job done."

"Fair enough. Hardison used that once. Pretended to be my partner so we could get into this rehab center to see Nate. Family only policy."

She laughed again. "Nice."

"So, wait. Can we get back to the part where Eliot lied to us?" Sophie said.

"I told ya, Soph. I didn't lie. I withheld information. There's a difference."

"You bloody hypocrite!" She slapped him across the face.

"Listen, Sweetheart. Eliot doesn't hit women, but I do. Touch my husband again and I will rearrange your face."

"Dee. Relax. It's okay."

"Why did you call him a hypocrite?" Deanna asked.

"About a year ago, we were working this job that Sophie suggested. She withheld important information that made the job go South," Nate explained.

"Eliot took the double cross the hardest and still doesn't fully trust her," Parker added.

"And it turns out he's been keeping information from us, which I find hypocritical, considering his reaction to what I did," Sophie said.

"There's a difference between what I did and what you did. I'm the hitter. It's my job to be underestimated by the mark, giving me- and as a result, us- an advantage. I withheld information about my skill level. If those skills became necessary on a job, I told you. But no one ever got hurt not knowing everything that I'm capable of."

He shifted his weight slightly, pointing at Sophie. "But you- You withheld information because you were trying to con us in addition to Blackpoole. That withheld information had consequences."

"Yes, yes, I know. Hardison had to blow up the office and we all had to scatter. I know all of that."

"No, Sophie. You don't. What did you do in the three months between the Blackpoole jobs?"

"Auditioned for a few roles and worked a couple small scale jobs. Why?"

"Nate? What about you?"

"Got drunk and planned the second job."

"Hardison?"

"The usual. Hacked NASA, Langley, et cetera."

"I robbed the Smithsonian," Parker said before Eliot could ask.

"And the six month break?"

"What does-"

"Answer. The damn question, Sophie," Eliot growled.

Deanna turned towards him, placing her hand on his chest, trying to calm him.

"More jobs and auditions."

"I stole the Hope Diamond, then put it back."

"Hacked the White House."

"I sobered up and moved to Boston."

"Okay, yeah. So business as usual for the four of you. How are those consequences? Huh? That day at the museum? That was my first time out since the first con had gone South. I spent those three months recovering from six broken ribs, a concussion and temporary vision loss- which, by the way, I was dealing with when I went to the office to bail Nate and Hardison out- and fought off over half a dozen old enemies because Sterling let it slip that I was playing wounded."

"I thought you said three ribs," Nate said, but Eliot ignored him.

"A disaster like that job? It hurts a hitter's reputation, and mine took a pretty big hit. I spent those six months we were separate fixing the mess _your_ double cross created with _my_ reputation. And when my reputation as a hitter took a dive, so did your protection."

"Wha- what protection?" Sophie asked, her face having paled as she heard exactly what her actions had caused him.

"The protection my reputation provided. The protection that caused other hitters to think twice about coming after you four. In the six months we were apart, I stopped a minimum of three hits on all of you. Seven on Parker, five on Nate and three each on you and Hardison."

"What?" Nate asked.

"The various mobsters we took down? Most of them still had contacts. Parker had four hits from the Serbians alone."

"The Serbians went after Parker?"

"You saved me?"

"Now how in the hell did you find Parker and I couldn't?"

"You have no idea how lucky you are, do you, Sophie?" Deanna said, taking a step towards the grifter.

"What do you mean?"

"You burn a thief, a hacker, or even a grifter, and they'll ruin you. They'll take your money, your good name, your reputation. The hacker will spread embarrassing, photoshopped pictures of you on the internet. You'll probably end up in prison."

She paused for a moment. "But you burn a hitter? And that's the last thing you will ever do. The fact that you're still alive says a lot about your former friendship. Honestly, it probably says more about El's relationship with Nate than his relationship with you. If a teammate ever double crossed me like you did Eliot, I don't think I would have been as generous."

There was an awkward silence for a while as the Leverage team processed that information. Finally, Nate spoke up.

"All right. We should probably get out of the area before those other eight men wake up and decide to come after you two. Deanna? Will you be coming with us?"

"I can't, really. My brother's back at the motel. I can't just run off on-" She trailed off, narrowing her eyes slightly. "No, I think I will come. I'll just go back to the motel and tell him I'm taking off for a little while."

"Want me to come with you?" Eliot asked.

She shook her head. "No. I'd really rather he not find out about you."

"Tell you what. We'll follow you in the van and park around the corner. You can leave your car with your brother and get a ride to the airport with us."

"Airport?"

"We're living in Boston now," Eliot said.

"Oh. Long way from home, huh?"

"We were on a job."

"And that's the reason you look like you went ten rounds with Ali?"

He shrugged and gave a sheepish grin. "The job went South."

"They usually do. I really should get back. I told Sam I wouldn't be gone long."

Eliot pulled her into a kiss before letting her get into her car.


	2. The Runway Job

**DISCLAIMER: **Still don't own _Leverage_ or _Supernatural._

**RATING: **T

**WARNINGS: **Language; specific spoilers for _The Bank Shot Job, The Stork Job, The First David Job, The Second David Job, The Tap-Out Job, The Ice Man Job, The Lost Heir Job_ and _The Runway Job_ and vague spoilers for the rest of _Leverage_; specific spoilers for _Skin_ and vague spoilers for the rest of _Supernatural_, specifically season five.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **So, I personally think Eliot gave in way too easily when they found out that Tara had been conning them. I also think he forgave Sophie way too easily for the fiasco with the Davids and Sterling. I have a hard enough time seeing him agreeing to continue working with her after those two episodes, that I can't see him agreeing to work with someone who had been conning them from their first meeting.

It might just be me, but I don't see him wanting to work with Tara, and threatening to walk if they chose to keep her around.

Anyway. Let me know what y'all think.

Oh, also. In response to a review who asked when this takes place, yes. All of these will take place after Deanna returns from Hell. _The Hustle Job_ took place sometime between _On the Head of a Pin_ and _Lucifer Rising. _This one takes place somewhere in the same general time frame.

* * *

"Absolutely not."

"Come on, Eliot. Sophie was right. We need a grifter. We can't do it without one."

"I refuse to work with her."

"Eliot-"

"No. Absolutely not. She lied to us. You don't con your crew."

"Sophie did, and you work with her."

"Yeah, and I still don't trust her."

All four of them stared at him.

"What do you mean you still don't trust her?" Parker asked. "You were working with her just fine."

"Didn't mean I trusted her."

"Then why were you working with her?" Hardison asked.

"Because Nate trusted her." He paused. "And I trust Nate."

"Then trust me now. In her letter, Sophie said she was good."

"Doesn't matter. Just because she's good, doesn't mean we should trust her. I don't trust her."

"Eliot-"

"Look. Either she's out. Or I am."

The entire team stared at him again.

"Eliot, you can't-"

"What do you-"

"If she stays, yer gonna hafta find yourself a new hitter. 'Cause I'm out."

Eliot Spencer turned and headed towards the door, leaving a shocked team behind.

"If I have to choose? I vote Eliot," Hardison said. "Man has bailed my ass out more times than I can count."

"Me, too," Parker added. "He's always there for us. Even when we weren't together."

"You can't seriously believe that you can do this without me," Tara said.

Eliot paused with his hand on the door, turning to see what Nate would do.

Nate looked at Tara, then looked at Eliot as he spoke. "I'm sorry. I'd rather have Eliot at my back. Parker's right. He's always been there for us. It's time we return the favor. Tell Sophie thank you, but we'll manage without you."

Tara shook her head. "You're going to regret this. The next time one of you get kidnapped by Russians because you overplay the Mark, don't come running to me to bail you out," she said, walking to the door.

"Don't worry. We won't," Eliot said, opening the door for her.

She had to duck out of the way to avoid a fist to the forehead.

"Oops. Sorry." The woman in the hall slipped past Tara and entered the apartment. "Heard y'all were lookin' for a new grifter," she said.

Eliot grinned.

"What. You're going to accept some yahoo who just happens to show up at the right time? How did she even know you needed a new grifter?"

Eliot's grin tightened.

"Because Eliot called me two weeks ago. Complain' about how Hardison got himself kidnapped by the goddamn Russians when he played grifter for a con. I had a job of my own to finish up, which is why it took me a while to get out here."

"Hey, Deanna," Eliot said, giving her a hug. "Thanks for coming."

"Don't mention it, Sweetheart. M'brother's been drivin' me crazy lately and I could really use a break from him and his girlfriend." She rolled her eyes and Eliot grinned.

He kept one arm around her shoulders as they faced the team. "Guys, this is Deanna Winchester. We've worked together in the past."

"And you're a grifter?" Nate asked.

"Not by trade, but I can do it."

"What are you, then?"

She looked up at Eliot and grinned. "I'm a hitter by trade, but I can do a little bit of everything."

"A hitter. Huh." Nate nodded thoughtfully. "And she can do the job?"

"Not as good as Sophie, but she's pretty damn good."

"All right, then. Hardison, get her an earbud."

"Let me get this straight. You are choosing some two bit tramp over the best grifter in the world just because some redneck cowboy calls her up and asks her to swing by for a couple of rounds?" Tara asked in disbelief.

Eliot clenched his jaw and both of his fists in a very strong effort not to hit Tara.

"That's enough, Tara. Yes. We're going to go on the word of some redneck cowboy. The last time we didn't listen to Eliot, Sophie and I nearly got killed," Nate said.

Tara stared at the five of them. "You know what? Fine. You do what you want. You're obviously going to do it anyway."

"Oh, and, Tara?"

She turned back and looked at Nate expectantly.

"Sophie is the best grifter in the world. Not you."

She glared at him and stalked off as Eliot closed the door behind her.

Deanna watched her go, grinning at Eliot, before turning around to face the rest of the team. She simply blinked when she realized Parker had silently moved to stand right behind her. "Hello," she said.

"You didn't jump," Parker said, frowning.

"Ah, no. I've got a- friend who doesn't understand the concept of personal space. I've gotten used to him randomly appearing behind me. Can I have my wallet back?"

Parker pouted and held out the wallet.

"Thanks, Sweetheart."

"So, Eliot. How come Deanna hasn't shown up in any of your files?" Nate asked.

"'Cause you haven't been lookin' in the right files," he replied.

"Naw, naw, Man. That ain't possible. I've found all your files."

"Couldn't have. Not if you don't know all my aliases."

"The only people Deanna Winchester has ever worked with are a John and Sam Winchester." Deanna raised an eyebrow and Hardison shrugged sheepishly. "I've been looking you up since Eliot introduced you. We like to know who we're working with. Pretty impressive record, by the way."

She shrugged. "Understandable. And you don't have my whole file, either. But thanks, I guess. Even though I didn't do about half the stuff on there."

"The St. Louis murders?"

"Yeah. Wasn't me."

"So, what aliases do we not know about?" Nate asked.

The two of them looked at each other for a few seconds before Eliot shrugged. "Danny and Cate," he said.

"D- Danny and- Danny and Cate?" Hardison asked in shock. "Naw, Man. No way."

"Yes, way," Deanna said.

"Those two are legendary thieves, Man. They're like a modern day Bonnie and Clyde. You name it, they've done it."

"Yeah," Eliot said. "We know. Because we did it."

"How is that possible? You're a hitter. You don't do the hacking. Or the thieving. Or the grifting, for that matter."

"Just because I don't doesn't mean I can't. We all have our roles on this team, and mine happens to be hitting, not hacking, thieving or grifting. But who's the one who pulled off the successful grift when Sophie couldn't be involved, huh? Mr. Iceman? Or Dale, the movie producer? Or, hell, even that job in Nebraska."

Parker shrugged. "He has a point."

"You can't even check your email, Man."

Eliot shrugged. "I showed you what you wanted to see. You wanted to see the dumb jock, so that's what I showed you. I was playing up the Hitter stereotype."

The three of them stared at him.

"I underestimated you, Eliot," Nate said. "I suppose that's the reason I only caught you once."

"Naw, that's because I never went after things insured by IYS after that first time. One time I did it by accident, I returned it as soon as I found out."

"Hey, El. Can you introduce your friends?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry. Dee, this is Nathan Ford, ex-IYS Insurance Investigator, and the boss. The blonde is Parker, thief extraordinaire. And that is Alec Hardison, our hacker."

Deanna glanced up at Eliot and he nodded once, knowing what she was asking. "Nice to meet y'all. I'm Deanna Spencer."

The other three blinked.

"Spencer?" Nate asked.

Eliot tightened his arm around her shoulders. "My wife."

"Your- Now, how in the hell did we miss that?"

He shrugged. "I didn't want you to know."

"We got married in Vegas on my eighteenth birthday. Just the two of us and some Elvis impersonator. Those types of weddings are pretty easy to hush up, especially if you don't know what you're looking for. Besides." Deanna shrugged. "Pay a little extra, and they'll keep anything hard copy only."

"Hey, Man. I got a question. Back when we were working the Mosconi job. I asked you, point blank, in the kitchen if you had ever been married, or if you had ever come close. Why did you say no?"

"Because I didn't want you digging into things that were better left secret. I knew you wouldn't find anything, which would piss you off to no end. When you couldn't find the information on your computer, you'd start harassing me to tell you more, which would piss me off even worse. That would lead to me punching you in the face. I figured it was better for everyone involved if I just didn't say anything. Besides, I'm not even sure the thing was completely legal."

Deanna shrugged. "Maybe we'll redo it one of these days. Anyway. What's the job? I haven't played a good con in a while now. Been a little busy."

The five of them settled down around the TV screens and Nate went over the information he had gathered from the client.

When Hardison brought up the information about Mrs. Pan being an aspiring fashion designer, Nate looked at the screen with narrowed eyes.

"We are going to make all of Mrs. Pan's dreams come true," he said before turning to look at the team. "We need a Caprina. Yes, a Caprina will do nicely."

He walked off and the other three members of the team looked at Deanna to see her reaction.

"Huh. Apparently it's not just an angel thing," she said before shrugging and looking at Eliot. "Hey, can I-" She pointed at the kitchen. "-get something to drink?"

"Oh, yeah. Sure. Come on."

He walked into the kitchen with her. "Beer?"

"Thanks."

Hardison and Parker followed them. "That didn't bother you?" Parker asked.

"What? The fact that he said something cryptic and then walked off? No. I've got some- friends who do the same thing all the damn time. I'm used to it."

"The same friends who appear behind you like I did earlier?"

"The very same."

"You have weird friends."

She shrugged again, taking a swig from her beer. "I suppose. Honestly, I'd call them more unwanted allies than actual friends. There's only one of them I actually like. The rest are a bunch of self-righteous pricks who look down on me for who I am in one breath, while asking me to sacrifice everything for them in the next."

Eliot frowned slightly. He didn't keep up with Deanna's work too much while they were separated. It opened too many possibilities for someone to track it, and find out about them, but maybe he should have. It sounded like a lot had happened since he had last seen his wife, and he wasn't sure he liked feeling like he was on the outside of something important in her life.

She caught his eye and shook her head slightly.

He nodded once, understanding her silent communication that she would tell him later.

"All right. We should get started on the prep work before Nate comes back and finds us all standing around his kitchen, not doing anything."


	3. The Victim Job

_**Disclaimer: **__Still don't own _Leverage _or _Supernatural.

_**Rating: **__T_

_**Warnings: **__Language; _Leverage _style violence; implied physical and sexual abuse_

_**Spoilers: **__Specific spoilers for _The Reunion Job_; vague spoilers for the rest of _Leverage_; no specific spoilers for _Supernatural,_ but vague spoilers for the whole series, specifically season 5._

_**Word Count: **__3,238_

_**Author's Note: **__I'm- not entirely sure where this one came from. I wrote it a while ago. I- like it? But I kinda feel like there's something- I don't know, missing, or something._

_I'm not sure. Anyway, let me know what y'all think. I have the next one almost entirely written, so hopefully it won't take as long to get the next one up._

* * *

The Victim Job

"Does anybody care if Eliot made it out okay?" Eliot Spencer grumbled as he left Dubertech once he had shut down Manticore.

The others were still back at the high school. Somehow, Nate and Sophie had won King and Queen of the reunion, despite the fact that neither one of them actually went to the damn school, so they were sharing a dance right now.

Then Hardison had asked Parker to dance, too.

So all four of his teammates were enjoying a dance, after having the easy parts of the con, and didn't seem at all concerned with how he was faring after his fight with the Iranian secret police.

He saw the guy he had knocked out earlier, on his way into the building. The guy was just waking up, and Eliot had a lot of excess energy and anger to let out, so he punched the guy once in the face, knocking him out again.

"Does anyone care if Eliot's still alive?" he asked again. "Hello?"

There was still no answer as he grumbled his way back to Nate's apartment.

The team had only been back together for a couple of weeks, and he was already getting damn tired of the others pointing him at the opposing muscle and telling him to take care of it.

It's what he did, sure. But he was starting to feel like they were taking him for granted. Especially after Sophie's little mind trick in the kitchen the other day.

That had pissed him off.

But what had pissed him off even more was that not only did she not apologize for it- which, to be honest, he wasn't too surprised- Nate didn't seem to see the problem with what she had done, either.

And now, they were all enjoying the afterglow of an extremely successful con while he dealt with the aftermath of his fight.

He was pretty sure he had cracked a rib or two in the fight, and he was going to have some very colorful bruises for the next couple of days.

He finished cleaning up, and getting rid of all visible trace of his injuries, same as he had always done since starting to work with the team. The one time he hadn't been able to was after that job in Nebraska over a year ago, and that one fight just before they went to Serbia.

Then again, he didn't have to hide the former, since they had seen him get those injuries. And the latter, he had been able to brush off by saying it was a lesbian bar.

As if.

If his team had known anything about him, they would have known that no woman would ever have been able to land a hit on him like that, butch lesbian, or not.

He had only ever fought two women who could do that sort of damage to him.

One was that ex-Mossad hitter he had tangled with when an old friend of Sophie's had been running a job at the same time their team had been.

And even then, she hadn't done much damage in that fight.

No, he was referring to the bullet scar he had on the back of his arm from a sniper in Myanmar, who, he found out, was most likely Raquel Dayan.

The second woman was actually his ex-protégé, his partner, and his wife.

Which would explain why the team didn't know about her. He didn't want anyone finding out that he was married. It was too dangerous for both of them if word ever got out. They had both made a long list of enemies over their combined sixty-four years.

He sighed. He hadn't seen his wife in a couple of years now. She had picked her brother up from college to help her look for her dad, and it just got too damn complicated to figure out how for her to get away from her brother long enough for them to see each other.

He had been vaguely paying attention to the coms while he cleaned up, listening for any indication that anyone cared how he had fared in the fight, but he tuned back in when he heard Parker say she was hungry.

The other three agreed with her, and he waited for his invitation to join them.

It never came.

Instead, he heard the silence that indicated that the four of them had turned off their coms, and Hardison had shut down the system.

Eliot shook his head in disbelief.

He needed to get out of here.

If his teammates, the closest thing he had had to a family since leaving Willie's ranch, were going to take advantage of him, he was going to go some place else.

Someplace where he was appreciated for more than just his muscles.

He removed his com, and set it, and his company phone on the counter and headed towards his apartment.

Once at his apartment, he put his personal cell on the counter and retrieved a key from where he had managed to keep it hidden from even Parker. He locked the apartment and set out at a steady walk towards the train station where he rented a locker.

He grabbed the duffle bag out of the locker, and changed in the bathroom, leaving his old clothes and shoes in the locker and catching a train out of the city.

He knew he seemed overly paranoid, but he figured it wasn't paranoia if they really were out to get him.

Besides, he wouldn't put it passed Hardison to have put trackers on his truck, bike, or in his shoes or clothes. He had done it to Parker, after she pulled that disappearing act over in Serbia.

Hell, he wouldn't put it passed Nate to be the one to suggest tracking him.

Man was entirely too much of a control freak.

Sure, Eliot had been playing nice, but he wasn't a team player. He never had been. Not since that time in-

He shook his head to clear that train of thought. He didn't need to go there right now.

But he wasn't a team player, and Nate knew it. He knew that the mastermind was just waiting for Eliot to go off the rails and return to working solo.

And honestly, that was looking more and more appealing every damn day.

The train reached its destination and Eliot got off. He grabbed a taxi and gave the driver directions to a storage facility outside of town.

Once there, he changed clothes once again and packed a duffle bag full of things for an identity that he hadn't used in a while. One that Hardison and Nate would never connect to the man they knew.

He called for a cab from a different company, and while he was waiting, he booked a first class ticket on the first flight out to Chicago, then booked a second first class ticket on a flight from O'Hare to Rapid City Regional Airport in South Dakota.

He also arranged for a rental car from the airport.

When he landed in South Dakota, he drove for another three hours before finally reaching his destination: Singer Auto Salvage.

Fortunately, the Impala was in the yard, which meant that his wife was here.

He slung his duffle bag over his shoulder with a grin and went up to the door. "Hey, Bobby," he said when Bobby Singer opened the door.

"Hey, Boy," Bobby said, stepping aside to let him into the house. "Glad you're here. I was about to call."

"What happened?" Eliot asked, noticing the serious look in Bobby's eyes.

"He went off the rails. It was pretty touch and go for a few days, even with that angel of hers. Gabriel is currently keeping him busy down in Texas, but it's only temporary. There's too much at stake right now to risk him getting noticed by the others."

Eliot nodded. "We'll go black. I'm more than qualified to take care of her and it'll keep you and Gabe uninvolved.

Bobby paused with his hand on the knob to the bedroom. "That's probably for the best. Come on."

Eliot had seen his wife with more injuries over the years than he cared to count, but it never got any easier to see her hurt, especially knowing she didn't get these on a job, or even in a fight.

He clenched his fist as he stared down at her.

He couldn't understand how anyone could hurt someone like this. Especially someone like her, and especially her own brother.

She had been protecting the guy all his life, and this was how he repaid her?

By almost beating her to death?

"Did he-"

Bobby looked down. "I'm sorry, Son," he said softly before backing out of the room to give them some privacy.

It took a lot to make Eliot cry, but he could feel tears filling his eyes as his legs gave out and he sank to his knees at the side of the bed.

He tentatively reached out and stroked her cheek with two fingers. She stirred slightly and turned her face into the touch.

His beautiful wife. He could only imagine how this was going to affect her. Myanmar had almost destroyed her.

He couldn't even begin to imagine how much worse it was going to be for her with the knowledge that it was her own brother who had done this to her.

He finally pushed himself to his feet, pressing a kiss to her forehead as he headed downstairs to get ready to leave. Bobby helped him load everything into the Impala, before heading into the kitchen to pack a cooler of food for the trip.

"Do you know where you'll go?" Bobby asked.

"I have a general idea," he said. "I'm not going to say, so you won't be lyin' when you say you don't know."

"Good idea. But you do know this car is pretty unique."

"I know. I'm gonna take it out of the state before switching to another vehicle. That way it won't be here to tie back to you."

"Don't do anything permanent. I think she'd be liable to kill ya herself if anything happened to her baby."

Eliot managed a smile. "I know. I'll get a storage facility or something."

Bobby nodded as Gabriel popped into the kitchen. Eliot closed his eyes and took a deep breath to hold back his attack instincts.

"Eliot," the angel said, nodding. "I had to let him go. The others were starting to get suspicious. He knows she's gone and he's steamed. He's pretty sure you took her away, Bobby, so he's on his way here. I would recommend you take your wife and get the hell out of dodge, if you know what I mean."

Eliot nodded. As much as he wanted to stay and kick the other man's ass, he knew his first priority was to get Deanna someplace safe where he couldn't touch them. He'd get her back on her feet, and they'd go after him together.

"Right. Put that in the car, Bobby, and I'll go get Deanna."

Eliot went up to the bedroom and found Deanna awake. "Hey, Dee," he said softly.

She gave him a small smile. "I knew you'd come, El," she said.

"Yeah. I'm here. I wish we could stay and let you heal up, but Gabe said he's on his way, so we have to get out of here."

She nodded. "All right."

He pulled back the covers and carefully gathered her into his arms. He carried her downstairs and got her settled into the car. He'd have preferred it if she were laying down in the backseat, but he knew that she would insist on being up front with him, so that's where he put her.

He closed the door and turned to Bobby and Gabe. "We'll see you in a couple months," he said.

Bobby nodded. "Take care of yerselves, Boy."

"We will, Bobby."

"She's got a couple decently powerful angels trying to find her, in addition to her brother and his pet demon. When you get wherever you're going, put these symbols up in addition to the ones you already know," Gabe said, handing him a folder. "Also, keep these with you at all times. They'll keep the demon from tracking you."

"Great." Eliot tucked the hexbag into his pocket as he headed around to the driver's seat.

"Whe're we goin'?" Deanna slurred as they pulled out of the lot.

"Boston," he replied. "It's a big enough city that you can blend into the crowds, and I've got a place there. And a job."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Goin' on almost three years now. A group of us were hired to work a job together, and the guy who hired us double crossed us and tried to kill us. We got out fine, but we decided to con him for payback. And a lot of money. Buy an island and go legit money."

"Did you?"

He shrugged. "I bought an island, and I went mostly legit."

"Mos'ly?"

"The five of us stayed together, pulling cons on rich businessmen who have skeletons in their closets. Fertilizer companies that are selling product that isn't up to federal regulations and have killed people, but the CEO is refusing to pull the product, or pay a settlement. We just finished a con on a guy who's software company was running a program that allowed the Iranian secret police to track down protestors."

"Ah. Soun's fun."

"It has been. I just needed some time away from the others."

"Takin' 'vantage o' the muscle?" she asked with a knowing look.

He shrugged. "Something like that. They went to the high school reunion while I went to the company to deal with any thugs. Pretty bad fight. Ended up using a chess trophy, of all things, to knock the guy out. Afterwards, none of them showed any inclination that they were wondering if I was okay. I was back at Nate's apartment cleaning up while they were sharing dances at the school. Then they decided to go out to eat, and didn't bother inviting me along. I had to get out of there."

"Un'ers'an'able. 've had tha' feelin' around Sam i' the past 'fore." Her eyes started drooping and he smiled.

"Go back to sleep, Dee. I'll wake you when we get out of South Dakota. We'll have to change cars."

"No' gettin' rid of m' baby."

"Not getting rid of your baby. I promise. Just storing her somewhere while we take a more non-descript car out to Boston. The Impala is beautiful, but it's also very distinctive. He'll be able to track it easily."

She nodded and settled down, leaning her head against the window.

He heard her breathing even out and knew she had drifted off again. He let the semi-cheerful look fade from his face, glaring darkly at the road in front of him.

Her brother had gone too far this time. The next time he saw the younger man, he would show him exactly what happened when you messed with Eliot's family.

Four days and three car changes later, the two of them arrived back in Boston. Eliot went to McRory's, figuring the team would be at Nate's place, and wanting to get the inevitable confrontation and interrogation over with as soon as possible.

He helped Deanna out of the car and up the stairs to Nate's apartment, using the key he had picked back up from the locker at the train station to unlock the door.

Hardison was on his computer on the couch, Sophie next to him. Nate was at the kitchen table, a glass of alcohol in his hand, looking like he hadn't shaved since Eliot took off. Parker was crouched at the top of the stairs up to Nate's bedroom.

When he entered the room, everyone stared at him in shock for a few seconds before they all started talking at once. Parker leaped down from the stairs and came bouncing over to him, rambling about something that he couldn't figure out.

Hardison and Sophie started talking over each other, demanding to know where he had been. Nate didn't say anything. He just stood up and moved into the living room, standing in front of the TV screens.

Eliot ignored all of them as he wrapped his arm around Deanna's waist and helped her over to the couch. A look of pain flashed across her face briefly as he helped her sit down, but it was gone fast enough that he doubted even Sophie would have been able to see it.

Once Deanna was settled, Eliot straightened up and turned to the others, raising a hand in a silent request for silence.

Fortunately, they actually listened for once.

Eliot looked at Nate. As the boss, he was the only one Eliot owed any answers to.

"You took off," Nate said.

"Yes, Sir," Eliot said, mentally cursing himself for falling back into his old military mentality.

"Where'd you go?"

"South Dakota."

"What's in South Dakota?"

"A friend."

"Why'd you leave?"

Eliot clenched his jaw. He didn't want to talk about this. Fortunately, he had a different reason. "My wife was in trouble."

That made Nate pause and the other three looked at Deanna curiously.

"Your wife?"

"Yes, Sir. We've been married for twelve years. Don't see each other very often, 'cause of the danger from our jobs, but we make the best of it."

"What happened to her?"

Eliot hesitated and looked back at Deanna, unsure what she wanted to tell them.

"M'brother," she said. "I said s'methin' 'bout 'is girlfriend that 'e didn' like."

"Your brother did that because you said something about his girlfriend?" Sophie asked.

"Among other things," Deanna admitted. "Hones'ly? 's been a long time comin'. 'm surprised he hasn't done this before."

"Next time I see your brother, I'm gonna kill him, Dee," Eliot said.

She looked at the ground, but nodded. "Be careful. He's not the same."

"What's your name, Sweetie?" Sophie asked, sitting down next to Deanna.

"Deanna. But I answer to Dee or Dean, as well."

"It's nice to meet you, Deanna. I'm Sophie. This is Hardison and Parker. Mr. Grumpy over there is Nate."

Deanna nodded at them, not even blinking when Parker got right up next to her, sniffing her. The only time she flinched was when Parker poked her in the arm.

"Leave her alone, Parker," Eliot said, sending a mild glare at the blonde thief.

"It's okay, El. I've had worse."

Eliot frowned. "Still." He sighed a little. "Will you be okay while I go put these up?" he asked, holding up the folder Gabe had given him.

"What are they?"

"Don't know. Gabe gave them to me. Somethin' about some of his brothers who were tryin' ta find ya?"

She grimaced. "In that case, yeah. Put those up as soon as possible. I'll be fine."

Eliot hesitated, but nodded and left the room to put up the wards and symbols around the apartment. He had failed his wife by not protecting her from her brother, but he swore it wouldn't happen again.

He almost wished Sam and the others would show up so he could make them pay for everything they had done to his wife.

They would eventually. He would make sure of it.


	4. The Casper Job

_**Disclaimer: **__Still don't own either series._

_**Rating: **__T_

_**Warnings: **__Language; _Supernatural _style violence_

_**Spoilers: **__Specific spoilers for _Skin, In My Time of Dying, Nightshifter, All Hell Breaks Loose I and II, The Kids Are All Right, Jus in Bello, Time is On My Side, No Rest for the Wicked _and _Hammer of the Gods, _and vague spoilers for the rest of the first five seasons of _Supernatural_; no specific spoilers for _Leverage_, but vague spoilers for all three seasons; spoilers for _Not Fade Away_ from _Angel: the Series.

_**Word Count: **__2,278_

_**Author's Note: **__Hey, sorry for the wait. I got kinda distracted by a shiny new fandom. Happens way too often, unfortunately._

_Anyway, here's part four. I'm not entirely thrilled, but I don't know how else to make it better. This part has some specific cross over references to _Angel: the Series.

_So, let me know what y'all think._

* * *

The Casper Job

"_Hey, Guys?"_

"_Yes, Parker?"_ Nate Ford asked over the earbuds.

"_People don't just appear out of no where, do they?"_

"You mean, other than you?" Eliot Spencer asked, already abandoning his post and heading towards where Parker was doing recon.

He hoped it wasn't what he thought it was, but knowing his luck, it probably was.

"_No, they don't, Parker."_

"_Well, one just did, and-"_

A loud crash cut her off and Eliot picked up the pace. Several more crashes followed, as did Parker's scream, which caused Eliot to start running, damn the consequences on the con.

He had a sinking feeling he knew exactly what was going on, and cursing the fact that he was one floor down and on the other side of the building from Parker.

There was a cut off scream that he knew was Parker falling into unconsciousness before the earbud picked up someone else's voice.

"Hey, Fugly! Over here!"

The next sound was a shotgun blast. Sawed off, if he was right, and he was pretty sure he was. It was a very distinctive sound. Especially combined with the name calling.

"Get the girl," the other girl's voice said.

Eliot sighed in relief, recognizing the voice and knowing Parker was in good hands. There was another shot as he burst out of the stairwell and around the corner.

There was a short, blonde woman with a shotgun in her hands that she swung in his direction as he came around the corner. She didn't shoot when she saw him, though, which he appreciated. It wouldn't kill him, but rock salt hurt like a bitch.

Parker was being cradled in the arms of a giant man with shaggy brunet hair. A second shotgun was in her lap.

The blonde's eyes widened and Eliot dropped to the floor as a round of rock salt flew over his head and dispersed the spirit.

"Shotgun," he called as he stood up.

He caught the gun she tossed him, then caught the shells. He quickly reloaded as she grabbed the gun off of Parker.

"She okay?" Eliot asked as they started back towards the exit.

"She'll be fine. Just got tossed through a bookshelf and hit her head. Maybe a concussion, but nothin' serious."

Eliot nodded and shot the spirit as it materialized behind the pair. "Sophie, screw the game and get in the van. Now."

The man shot him a funny look, but Eliot ignored it.

"_Eliot, we're outside the back door," _Nate said.

He nodded and looked at the other two. "There's five more people in the front of the building. We need to get them out?"

"If you can do it without getting caught," the blonde said.

"I'll have to get something from the van."

He shot the spirit again as they reached the door.

"I'll hold it off," she said.

Eliot took off out the door, the other man behind him. He threw open the van door and jumped in, digging through a bag. He found what he needed and jumped back out, the shotgun still in hand.

"We'll stall until Sophie gets here, but get ready to book when we get in," he said as he went back inside.

"_I'm on my way now," _Sophie said.

"_What about him?" _Nate asked.

"Tell him to take care of Parker. I got his sister."

He caught back up to the woman. "We have to go farther in," he said, holding up the explosives he had grabbed.

She grinned and nodded before turning and heading towards the center of the building. She took point and he watched her back.

They didn't talk, focused on their surroundings, but Eliot could hear Nate and Hardison arguing with the man.

The spirit attacked twice more before they reached their target.

"Sophie, tell me you're in the van," Eliot growled.

"_I am now."_

"Good." He set the charge, letting the woman watch his back as he placed it in position. "We got two minutes," he warned.

"Guess we better move, then, huh?" she asked, grinning at him.

He returned the grin. "After you, Darlin'."

They hurried on their way back to the door, shooting when the spirit materialized and tried to stop them.

"Thirty seconds," Eliot said.

They reached the door and burst through, racing towards the van. With his longer legs, Eliot reached it first and turned back. The spirit materialized one more time and was rushing towards the woman, its hand outstretched.

He shot it, dispersing it just before it reached her. She jumped into the van and he quickly followed, shutting the door. "Move it, Hardison," he growled.

The tires spun as Hardison stepped on the gas. They pulled away from the building as the explosion went off.

The two of them leaned back against the side of the van and looked at each other before they burst out laughing.

"Ah, that was fun," she said when she finally calmed down.

"Fun? You call that fun?" Hardison asked incredulously. "What was that? Tha- that thing just- disappeared!"

"That was a vengeful spirit," the woman said.

"A what?" Sophie asked.

"You know, Casper, the bloodthirsty ghost?"

"Dee," the man said in an exasperated voice.

"What?"

"Ghosts are real?" Nate asked.

"Among other things," Dee said.

"And you know this, how?" Hardison asked.

"'cause I've been hunting them since I was four."

"Hunting them?"

"Yeah. We go around and hunt all the supernatural fuglys so people like you can continue to live in ignorance. Deanna Winchester," she said. "M'brother, Sam."

"Winchester?" Hardison demanded, slamming on the breaks.

Eliot swore and braced himself, grabbing Parker- who had woken up by this point- and keeping her from hitting her head again. "Dammit, Hardison," he growled.

Hardison ignored him and turned around, pointing a finger at Deanna. "Y- you're supposed to be dead! Th- the gas explosion a- and th- the station, and-"

"Uh- Colorado? With Henrickson?"

"Yeah, that."

"We weren't there. Henrickson had let us go about an hour before the- explosion."

"What are you talking about, Hardison?" Sophie asked.

"Deanna Winchester was, like, number two on the FBI's most wanted list, for murder, kidnapping, bank robbery, grave desecration and credit card fraud among other things. She supposedly died in St. Louis about five years ago, but popped back up again in Baltimore a year later on suspicion of murder. A few months after that, she was caught on national news while robbing a bank in Milwaukee that ended with five dead before she escaped by pretending to be part of the SWAT team sent to infiltrate the bank and subdue her."

Deanna was grinning. "That was great. We walked right past Henrickson and he didn't suspect a thing."

"We?" Nate asked.

"Me'n'Sammy," she replied, jerking her head towards her brother, who was shifting uncomfortably. "And, anyway, look. If I wanted you dead, first of all, I wouldn't have bothered to save your girlfriend. I woulda let Casper finish her off. Second of all. If I wanted you dead, Darlin', you'd already be dead."

"Eliot wouldn't let you," Sophie said.

"I ain't scared a Eliot," Deanna said.

"You should be. He killed a man with an appetizer," Nate said.

"Not just any man. The Butcher of Kiev," Hardison added.

"Did you really?" she asked, looking at Eliot.

"No. But he is dead."

"That's good. So's Bela, by the way."

"You do it?"

"Naw. Turns out Miss Talbot made a deal. I was on the phone with her when the Hellhounds ripped her apart."

"Ouch." Eliot winced.

"Tell me about it. Things have some nasty teeth."

"How would you know?"

"Uh, well. I, uh-" She took a breath. "You see, Dad died, then I thought you were dead, so when Sam died, I had nothing left. I made a deal to bring Sam back and spent forty years in Hell before the angels pulled me out to help stop the Apocalypse."

"I'm assuming you did."

"About six months back."

"Why didn't I hear about this?"

"Probably because everyone thought you were dead."

He frowned.

"LA, four years ago. Mini-Apocalypse thing involving Wolfram and Heart. Carnage included Lindsey McDonald, a former employee of W&H who looked enough like you to fool me."

Eliot stared at her. "Lindsey's dead?"

"You knew him?"

"M'twin brother."

"Oh." Her eyes widened. "Oh. God, El, 'm sorry. I- I gave him a proper send off if it makes you feel any better."

"A little, yeah. We weren't too close, y'know? But he was still m'brother."

"I know the feeling. Look, I took care of him."

"I have a question," Parker said. "How'd you know I'm Hardison's girlfriend? Why couldn't I have been Eliot's?"

"You ain't his type, Sweetheart."

"Eliot has a type?" Nate asked in surprise.

"Man'll sleep with anyone with a pulse," Hardison said as he began driving again.

Deanna laughed. "There are three things you have to know about Eliot Spencer. One, he don't like guns. Two, you mess with his family and he'll tear you apart. And three, he don't do blondes. He can sleep with anyone he damn well pleases, and I don't give a rat's ass. He so much as looks at another blonde and I'll kick his ass."

"What gives you any say in who Eliot sleeps with?" Sophie asked.

"I'm 'is wife."

"What?" Sam demanded. "Since when are you married?"

"Vegas. January twenty-fourth, ninety-seven. Best eighteenth birthday ever."

"How do I not know this?" Hardison asked.

"Didn't want you to," Eliot said.

"Deanna?"

"Sorry, Sammy. I didn't want Dad finding out and I was afraid you'd let it slip in one of your arguments with him."

"And after he died?"

"Didn't want Yellow-Eyes, Ruby or any of the chucklehead angels we were dealing with finding out."

"The last six months?"

She shrugged. "Hasn't come up. Like I said, I thought Lindsey was Eliot."

"How did you hide it from the angels?"

"Everyone's favorite archangel slash trickster god."

"Gabriel?"

Said angel appeared in the van, causing everyone except Deanna and Eliot to freak out, and the van to swerve.

"You rang, Sammy Boy?"

"You know, not everyone is used to having angels pop into their backseat with no warning while they're driving," Deanna began conversationally.

"I know. Isn't it great?"

She sighed. "Why do I even bother? And ain't you s'pposed to be in hiding?"

"I'm _bored_, Dee. Do you _know_ how _hard_ it is to hang out with only two other people? Two people, I might add, that you said I couldn't play with? Where's the fun in that?"

"At least you're alive."

"Yeah, and how is that again?" Sam demanded. "Lucifer was pretty proud of the fact that he had killed you."

"You see, the thing about me is that everyone underestimates me," Deanna said. "A little angel mojo here, a little demon mojo there, a bit of pure human audacity, and a sprinkle of Winchester luck, and you've got one perceived dead archangel."

"Winchesters have no luck."

"Sure we do, Sammy. How else do you explain the fact that we're both still here, despite the numerous times we've died?"

Sam continued glaring at her.

"All right, so maybe it's not Winchester luck. Maybe it's Spencer luck. 'cause I got it. Eliot's got it. Hell, Ben's got it."

"What does Ben have anything to do with this?"

"He's my son," Eliot said.

Sam blinked. "You slept with Lisa?"

Deanna grinned. "It was fun. Two words: yoga teacher." She grinned, waggling her eyebrows.

"Seriously?"

"Look, Hardison. You got nothin' to worry 'bout," Eliot said. "Dee ain't gonna kill no one."

"Except maybe Gabriel."

"You love me, Babydoll."

"Doesn't change the fact that you're a pain in the ass. Now, get, before Castiel decides to show up."

It wasn't Castiel, but another angel popped into the van, earning another swerve.

"Goddammit!" Deanna exclaimed. "Seriously, people. This is a van that is driving down the highway. Not a goddamn angel convention!"

The new angel blinked. "It's not?" he asked. "But two of the most powerful angels are here."

Deanna let her head drop back, hitting the side of the van. She repeated the motion several times.

"Don't hurt yourself, Darlin'," Eliot finally said.

"Eh. I got a hard head," she said, waving off his concern. "So, what exactly were you doing back there?"

"Running recon for a game."

"Fun times. Need another set of muscles?"

"Could probably use another grifter, too, if you're up for it."

"Why do we need another grifter? I had everything under control," Sophie said.

Eliot shrugged. "It never hurts. Besides you took off right before the explosion. If they're smart, they'll put two and two together. They don't know about Deanna _or _Sam, which'll give us an edge."

Nate narrowed his eyes in consideration. "You any good?" he asked, looking at the siblings.

"I've been grifting since I was four," Deanna said. "And I taught Sam everything he knows. Plus, our dad was an ex-marine and he taught us hand to hand in case there's more meatheads than you're expecting."

"Can I play?" Gabriel asked.

"No. You're still dead, remember? If the other angels find out you're still alive, there'll be Hell to pay and we just ended one apocalypse. I'm not really in the mood for another one any time soon."

Gabriel pouted. "Still no fun," he said.

"Yeah, yeah. Cry me a river."

"Uh- angels? Apocalypse?" Nate asked.

"Long story. Don't ask."

"Right. Anyway, I guess we're back to square one. Security'll be tightened after you two set off an explosion in their building." He sent a disapproving glare at Eliot and Deanna.

The two of them just grinned, unapologetically.

"Here's what we're gonna do-"


	5. The Second David Job

**Rating:** T  
**Warnings:** language; mentions of _Leverage_ style violence; mentions of _Supernatural_ style character death; minor character death  
**Spoilers:** specific spoilers for _The First David Job_ and _The Second David Job_, with vague spoilers for the rest of season one of _Leverage_; specific spoilers for _Nightshifter, All Hell Breaks Loose I_ and _II, Heaven and Hell_ and _Abandon All Hope_, with vague spoilers for the rest of the first five seasons of _Supernatural_.  
**Word Count:** 1,449/?  
**Author's Note:** So, this 'shot came to me after watching the _David Jobs_from season one. It started because I wanted to have Deanna steal something from the museum, using the distraction provided by the crew robbing the Blackpool gallery.

Anyway, this 'shot takes place during the _Supernatural_ episode, _Heaven and Hell_, and at the very end of the _Leverage_ episode, _The Second David Job_.

And don't ask what Eliot and Deanna are talking about at the end, as I have absolutely no idea what they did. I just know it was something wild, crazy, and impossible, that ended up working.

* * *

The Second David Job  
Eliot was standing in the hanger with his team. They needed to scatter. It was the smart thing to do.

Problem was, when they scattered, he wouldn't be able to protect them. This crew had gotten under his skin. They were his family now.

Yeah, he was still mad at Sophie, but she was like his older sister. He wouldn't- _couldn't_- let anything happen to her, any more than he could Nate, Parker, or even Hardison.

But how to convince them that scattering would be a very bad idea.

"Well, we had a good run," Nate began, but Eliot broke in.

"I don't think we should scatter," he said. "We've pissed off a lot of powerful people and Sterling let slip that I was playing wounded. People, other hitters, are going to take advantage of that and I can't protect you if we're apart."

"But Sterling-"

"Isn't a problem right now. The problem is the others like me who will come after you for revenge. Three months ago, my reputation took a dive. When that happened, so did your protection. As long as I was perceived as invincible, most of the other hitters thought twice about coming after us. The ones who were willing to come regardless charged ridiculous amounts, that caused their potential clients to think twice about hiring them. Don't scatter."

Nate looked at the other three, judging their reactions.

"Please, Nate," Eliot said.

Nate's brow furrowed slightly and he cocked his head to the side.

"We're not just a team. We're a family. And I take care of my family. Even pain-in-the-ass little brothers and big sisters who screwed up in the first place."

He looked at Sophie. "Just keep in mind, Sophie. I don't give third chances. And if you were anyone else, you wouldn't even get a second. Don't screw this up."

"I won't," she promised, recognizing the seriousness in his voice.

Eliot heard a sharp whistle from the open door.

"Yo, Mal!"

They all turned to see a blonde woman looking at them from over the top of a classic Impala. A man with shaggy brunet hair was in the front seat while two women, one with red hair and one with black, were in the back seat.

"Come on. Let's go! I got a job I could use your help with," the blonde called, banging lightly on the top of the car.

"Anyone know who that is?" Nate asked.

"I think so, yeah," Parker said.

Eliot shot her a confused look.

"A few years ago, there was a bank robbery and murder at a bank I was casing. That woman saved my life."

"Come on, Mal. A pair of really powerful people on both ends of the spectrum are trying to find and kill an innocent girl. I'd feel a lot better if you were at my back."

Eliot subtly jerked his head at his team and she nodded once. He turned back to his team. "Will you trust me?" he asked.

"Well, I trust you," Parker said.

Nate looked at Hardison and Sophie, both of whom nodded, and looked at Eliot. "Yes, Eliot. We trust you."

He gave a faint grin, but before he could do anything, four car doors slammed and he turned to see all four of the Impala's passengers coming their way. He furrowed his brow in question and the blonde answered.

"We got company."

"What kind?" Eliot asked.

"This is your idea of keeping her safe?" the black haired woman asked with a sneer. "We aren't in a very defensible location. We don't have any way to fight them. This is insane, Deanna."

"I have a plan, Ruby," the blonde replied, frowning at the other woman.

"Deanna, I thank you for trying, but Ruby is correct. Please. Just leave me here."

"Shut up, Anna. I don't leave my team behind. And I told you. I have a plan. Just- Don't do anything- violent," Deanna said, looking at Eliot.

"What are you talking about? You know I only use violence as a last resort."

"Yeah, I know."

"Now, why am I surprised you two know each other."

Eliot's gaze hardened and he took two steps towards Sterling. Deanna put one hand on his arm, stopping him.

"I don't know. Why are you?"

"You shouldn't have been able to keep something like that quiet. Two big names like yours."

Deanna simply stared at him.

"Yes, well, you never were one for small talk. I suppose you want to get this over with. Do you have it?"

Deanna reached into her back pocket and pulled out a necklace that she held up. "And for the record, I don't like using Eliot as a distraction without his knowledge. It won't happen again."

"Fine, fine, whatever. Hand it over."

"Not so fast. Give me the gun. And the bullets. Have to make sure it's the real one."

"Would I lie to you?"

"Yes," echoed from Eliot's team.

Sterling smirked. "So I would. But, what guarantee do I have that you'll hand over the necklace once you get what you want?"

Deanna narrowed her eyes at him.

"I want you to swear it to me on what you hold most dear."

Her eyes narrowed even farther, but she nodded once. "Once I make sure that the gun and the bullets are the real thing, I will give you this necklace, as we agreed." She glanced over at the brunet man, then back at Sterling. "I swear it on Eliot's life."

Sterling cocked his head, while the brunet and Ruby gave starts of surprise.

"You value Spencer's life more than you do your brother's?"

"I love Sam. I raised that kid since he was six months old and in some ways he's more my son than he is my brother. But if I had known that Eliot was still alive, I never would have brought him back. Because no matter how much I love my brother-" She paused and looked up at Eliot. "-I love my husband more," she finished in a whisper.

"Hn. Now that _is_interesting," Sterling said.

Eliot stared down at Deanna. "Dee," he began.

She shook her head once and looked at Sterling. "The Colt," she said.

"Fine," Sterling said, withdrawing an antique pistol from inside his jacket. He tossed it to Deanna. "How are you going to test it?" he asked.

She ignored him, cocking the hammer. She aimed the gun at Sterling, who took a step back, before pulling the gun to the left and firing one shot.

The bullet went between the eyes of a man who had just come around the corner. A weird light flashed under his skin as he fell to the ground.

"Huh. Guess it was real," Deanna said.

"Told you. My necklace, if you please."

She tossed the necklace to him. "Now get lost, Crowley. Before I shoot you, too."

"Crowley?" Eliot asked.

"Mm. Your friend Sterling is playing host to the King of the Crossroads."

"Huh. Guess that explains how he was able to get the best of us."

"That would be why. You're too good for him otherwise."

"I resent that," Sterling said.

"No, you don't. It's not an insult to you. Just your host."

"Nn. So it is," he said with a smirk. "Well, I believe I'll take my leave. Have a good day."

"Remember what I said, Crowley. I will not use Eliot as a distraction without his permission again, so don't bother asking."

"Fine, fine."

He left and Deanna and Eliot turned to face the others.

"So, married?" Nate asked with a bemused look on his face.

Eliot shrugged. "Our safety is more important than office gossip. Not even her brother knew. And as you can see, our secrecy paid off."

"Fair enough."

"You know, Dean-o, I didn't think you had it in you," Ruby said.

"No one ever does," Deanna said, her smile tight. "Now, let's get out of here. Ruby was right. This isn't a very defensible location."

"Who are we defending against?" Eliot asked as the entire group started heading towards the exit.

"Godzilla and Mothra," Deanna said. "And what do we do when we face two monstrous enemies who are also antagonistic towards each other?"

The two of them grinned at each other. "Brainbuster Monkey Twist," they said in unison.

Nate, Sam and Ruby stopped in their tracks.

"Brainbuster Monkey Twist?" Ruby asked in disbelief, voicing all of their opinions.

"I'm in," Parker said. When Hardison sent her a look that said she was crazy, she just shrugged. "It sounds like fun," she said.

Deanna laughed and pulled Parker forward. "I like you, Sweetheart," she said, draping one arm over the thief's shoulders.


	6. The Juror 6 Job

**Rating:** T  
**Warnings:** minor language; mentions of past character death  
**Spoilers:** specific spoilers for _The __Juror__ # 6 __Job_ and vague spoilers for the rest of season one of _Leverage_; specific spoilers for _In__ My __Time __of __Dying, __All __Hell __Breaks__ Loose __I_ and _II,_ and _No __Rest __for __the __Wicked_, with vague spoilers for the rest of seasons one through three, 4.1 and 5.2, 5.8 and 5.12 of _Supernatural_; specific spoilers for the season three finale of _Buffy__ the __Vampire __Slayer_ and vague spoilers for the rest of the first three seasons; vague spoilers for all of _Angel:__ the __Series_, with specific spoilers for _Not __Fade __Away_.  
**Word**** Count:** 2,678  
**Author****'****s**** Note:** I got this idea from a story that I read a while back, where Eliot is the one who replaces the Vargas lawyer in _The __Juror__ #6__ Job_ episode. I added my own spin on it, however, since Eliot isn't just Eliot Spencer and Lindsey McDonald, but is also married to Deanna Winchester.

There are some amusing parts to this 'shot, but over all it's really sad, and my heart was breaking for Eliot as I wrote the ending. This is the 'one time they didn't' part of the 'five times' story.

Actually, I suppose it should be more like, 'the one time they _couldn__'__t_', since it takes place about a week and a half before _Lazarus__ Rising_.

I hope you like, and that it doesn't make you cry. Either way, let me know. And I'm not entirely sure what the last part is going to be. I know it's going to be 'the one time they didn't have to', but I'm not really sure what that is just yet.

* * *

The Juror #6 Job  
"We can't win this. We got in too late. We have to stall. Hardison, that's your job."

"That's not going to work," Eliot said.

"Of course it will," Nate replied. "We stall long enough to force a settlement."

"No, it's not going to work. I know people like Ernshaw. She will do everything in her power to keep settlement off the table and force a verdict. You can send Hardison in to stall if you want, but you had better be ready to win the trial."

"That's impossible. We can't win this trial."

"Improbable. Not impossible. The right lawyer could pull it off."

"Yeah, well, none of us are lawyers, so we force the settlement. Hardison, prepare to stall."

"Got it."

"This is a mistake," Eliot said.

"Eliot, you don't have to like it, but this is what we're doing."

Eliot stared at Nate and clenched his jaw in an attempt to not say something he would regret later. "Right," he began after a few seconds. "What do I know? I'm just the thug."

"It'll work. Trust me."

Eliot watched Nate walk off, his eyes narrowed. Nate's stubbornness was going to ruin everything for Gloria Vargas.

He went to his office and locked the door, activating some of the security measures he had put in. This was one conversation he definitely didn't want his team overhearing.

"Gabe. What can I do you for?" asked the man on the other end of the line.

"Hey. It's Eliot. I need a favor."

"Of course. Anything for my favorite thief."

"One of our cases put us in a courtroom. The boss thinks we can stall and force a settlement. It's not going to work, and I'm the only one who can win the trial."

"You need Lindsey's qualifications current and active."

"I do."

"Done and done. I'll send you the files in a few minutes."

"Thanks, Gabe."

"No worries, Eliot. Take care."

Eliot hung up and spent the rest of the night going over the old lawyer's files. To his amusement, Gabe had put himself down as a medical expert witness for the Plaintiff.

This case was in the bag.

The next morning, he put on one of his lawyer suits, pulled his hair back and put on his glasses, then headed to the courthouse. He made sure Hardison would get held up at security and went into the courtroom.

"Good morning, your Honor. I apologize for my tardiness. I was up North five hours ago when my colleague called and asked me to fill in for him due to a family emergency."

"Is everything all right, Mr-"

"McDonald, your Honor. Lindsey McDonald for the Plaintiff. His mother was in a car accident."

"I see. Shall we begin?"

"Of course, your Honor."

"Mr. McDonald, your first witness."

The first witness he called was not one he would have used under normal circumstances, but to make up for deviating from Nate's plan, he was going to stall for a little while. If only so he could say 'I told you so' when Ernshaw forced the verdict.

The woman was a friend of the family who was testifying to Ernesto's health, activity levels and how much the family was suffering with his death.

This was the type of witness he used to tear apart as a defense lawyer and he was counting on the Defense making her cry during cross. It happened and Eliot mentally smirked. The jury members were glaring at the Defense table, which was a major win for Eliot.

Once she was off the stand, the Defense called for a recess. Eliot was able to avoid Nate, Hardison and Sophie until he was back at the office.

"What are you doing, Eliot?" Nate demanded. "You can't do whatever the hell you want. We had a plan."

"Yeah. One that would ruin everything for Gloria. Now, I'm stalling, just like you wanted to. But I'm also prepared to win when Ernshaw forces the trial to a conclusion. And she will."

"You can't just go making up aliases, Eliot. I have to have time to put these things together."

"Did you bother checking the name?" Eliot asked, semi-distractedly as he flipped through the new files that had been waiting on his desk.

Having Gabe helping him out was ten times better than when he was working at W&H. At least he didn't have to worry about demons popping in and ruining everything.

"You mean Lindsey McDonald is a real person? Eliot, you can't just use someone else's identity. When people check, things fall apart-" Hardison trailed off. " Unless Lindsey McDonald is you."

"What?" Sophie asked, moving so she could see the screen.

"You ain't the only one I know who's capable of making CIA level aliases, Hardison. Things were getting a little hot about a year ago, so I killed Lindsey. Things have cooled down, though, and the main guy trying to kill me is no longer in LA."

"Where is he?"

"Cleveland, of all places."

"Cleveland?"

"Yeah. Ohio. Don't ask, 'cause I'm not entirely sure myself. All I know is he ain't in LA. And the other guys I can handle."

"Other guys?"

"The other guys who wanted to see Lindsey dead."

"Were there a lot of them?"

"When aren't there?" he asked, rhetorically. "Now, if you don't mind? I'm trying to work here."

"You know what you're doing?" Nate asked.

"Nate, Lindsey McDonald has never lost a case. Now, granted, I was on the other side of the case before. Defense lawyer. But that just means I know all their tricks. The witness earlier? I was counting on the other guy making her cry. The jury hates him for it. The guy I'm going to call when we get back? Could sell ice to an Eskimo. Trust me. This case is ours, one way or another."

"You're positive?"

"Yes."

"All right, then. Just, Eliot? Next time, tell us about something like this."

"You got it, Boss," he replied, mentally shutting all of them out so he could work.

Back in the courtroom, he called his next witness. "I would like to call-" Only years of dealing with Gabe and a fantastic poker face allowed him to keep a straight face. "-Dr. Angel Gabriel," he said.

Several people in the courtroom weren't as lucky.

"Please state your name for the record," the Judge said once Gabe had been sworn in.

"Dr. Angel Gabriel."

There were more snickers.

Eliot asked a few questions to steer the line of conversation, but was otherwise content to let Gabe say pretty much whatever the hell he felt like.

By the time he turned it over to cross, Gabe had most, if not all, of the jury eating out of the palm of his hand.

Like he told Nate: Gabe could sell ice to an Eskimo.

The Defense tried to discredit him, but, honestly. He's an angel.

Once Gabe was dismissed, Eliot rested. He'd destroy the Defense witnesses in cross, and walk in the closing arguments. This case was in the bag.

In the meantime, he could turn his attention to wondering where his wife was. He had been expecting her to show up ever since he called Gabe for help, so he was a little concerned that she wasn't here.

When they recessed for the jury deliberations, he was going to sit down with the archangel and find out what was going on.

That night, they found out that Ernshaw had bought out Mumbai Unlimited, once again taking settlement off the table and forcing a verdict, just like Eliot had known she would.

Eliot looked at Nate and raised an eyebrow. He didn't say anything, though. He didn't have to. He could tell by the look on Nate's face that the mastermind understood the silent 'I told you so' that Eliot was sending his way.

Defense called up some seedy looking guy who reminded Eliot of the pictures he had seen of the old Principal of Sunnydale High. Snyder, he thought the guy's name had been. He was pretty sure Snyder had gotten eaten by a snake demon, though, so it couldn't be him.

Unless he also had an archangel hiding away in his back pocket to help fake his death.

Or had a twin brother. Which was more likely.

This guy did have a different name, but chances are Snyder used a fake name, since he was dabbling in the seedy underworld of Sunnydale.

The Defense sent it to cross and Eliot stood up, smoothing down his suit as he approached the stand.

"Hey, El. This guy's on the FBI's no fly list," Gabe said in his left ear.

He glanced down and saw a very tiny Gabe standing on his shoulder. "Gives new meaning to the term 'Angel on my shoulder'," Eliot muttered.

"_What__ was __that, __Eliot?_"

"Nothing, Nate. Now shut up and let me do my job."

Gabe laughed. "No one else can hear me, and I've got all the information you need to completely discredit this guy."

"I'm sure you do," Eliot muttered.

Regardless of how it sounded, he was very grateful to having Gabe on his shoulder, feeding him the information about this guy. It was so much better then having W&H helping him out.

He completely and utterly destroyed the guy and the Defense glared at him as he stood down from questioning.

Defense asked a few more questions in a very unsuccessful attempt at undoing some of the damage Eliot and Gabe had done, before finally giving up and resting.

They took a very short recess before coming back for the closing arguments. Defense went first and made the expected comments about how Herbalife couldn't have possibly known that the supplement would kill Ernesto Vargas.

Eliot knew all the arguments because he had used them, and he was able to easily counter them. When he finished, the Judge sent the Jury off for deliberations, which meant that it was all on Parker now.

Everyone except Parker went back to the office. Nate, Hardison and Sophie went to the conference room where they could keep an eye on the deliberations, while Eliot disappeared into his office. He needed to talk to Gabe.

"Gabriel," he called, knowing that the angel could hear him.

"You rang?" Gabe said, appearing in the corner of the office.

"We need to talk."

Gabe's smile fell. "Yeah. I was waiting for this." He created a seat out of thin air and sat down.

"Where's Deanna? I expected her to be here once I called you for help."

"And she would be. If she were here."

"What do you mean?"

Gabe sighed. "Look, Eliot. When you killed Lindsey a year and a half ago, Deanna didn't get the memo that that's all you were doing. Killing an alias. She thought you were actually dead."

"She didn't get my message?"

"No. She thought you were dead. The previous May, John had died as well. As far as she knew, all she had left was her brother. A few days after she heard about LA and Lindsey's death, Sam was kidnapped by the demon that killed their mother all those years ago. He was forced into a gladiator style competition, and came out the winner. Unfortunately, he was unwilling to kill his last opponent. When Deanna and Bobby showed up, Sam turned his back on Jake to go to them. Jake wasn't as unconscious as Sam thought, and drove a knife into his back, severing his spine."

"Sam is dead?"

Gabe shook his head. "No."

"But you just said-"

"He died in Deanna's arms, yes. And less than forty-eight hours later, Deanna had gone to a crossroads, summoned a demon and made a deal to bring him back to life."

"She what?" Eliot exclaimed, jumping to his feet, relieved that he had thought to activate the soundproofing.

"She was under the impression that all three of the most important men in her life had died, with two of them having ended up in Hell."

"How long does she have left?"

"She doesn't."

"What do you mean?"

"The demons wanted her in Hell sooner rather than later, in order to start the endgame strategy of the chess game they've been playing with Heaven for the last six millennia. The crossroads demon only gave her one year, instead of the usual ten." Gabe hesitated just slightly. "She died almost four months ago."

Eliot was in such a state of shock that he had to sit down before he fell over.

His wife- his beautiful wife- was dead. She was in Hell. Yeah, he may eventually get to see her again, but she wouldn't be the same. She would be a demon.

Chances are, he would be her first target once she got back to the surface, because of how close they had been while she was still alive.

Well, maybe second target. Sam would probably be the first, since she had sold her soul for him.

"Why didn't she tell me?" he asked.

"She didn't know you were still alive. When I finally found out what was going on, I didn't tell her. She regretted what she had done the instant it was a done deal and I didn't want her to agonize over it any more than she already was. I couldn't do that to her."

"What about me?"

"I'm sorry, Eliot. I like you. I really do. But Deanna is my girl. I would do anything to protect her. And I tried. I manipulated it so that she had an out. So that Sam could get her out of the deal. But he didn't use it. He didn't take advantage of it, and instead he let her go to Hell."

Eliot buried his head in his hands.

He felt Gabe approach and tentatively put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, Eliot. Since the moment Deanna entered Hell, some of my brothers and sisters have been storming the gates of Hell to get her back. From what I understand, they are close. I don't want to get your hopes up, but they estimate that she will be rescued sometime this month."

"How long."

"Eliot, you have to understand-"

"How long."

Gabe sighed. "A month on Earth is the equivalent of ten years in Hell. She's been there a little under four months, which means she's been there about thirty-seven years."

"Will she-" He trialed off, not sure how to ask the question.

"I don't know, Eliot. She's a very stubborn individual. She may have held out, but I can't give you any guarantees, because I just don't know."

The two of them sat in silence for a while until they heard Nate on the other side of the door.

"Eliot! Come on. Jury's back from deliberations. Let's go."

Gabe gave his shoulder a squeeze. "Let's go, El," he said.

Eliot nodded and stood up. He straightened his suit, pasted a neutral expression on his face and left the office, following Nate, Sophie and Hardison back to the courthouse.

Gabe walked next to him, and Eliot knew that the archangel had made himself invisible to everyone except Eliot himself, lending silent support. Eliot appreciated it.

Gabe may be an angel, but he was an utter dick. The fact that he was even attempting to comfort him over Deanna's death meant more to him than any of the platitudes Sophie would use if she knew.

He sat with Gloria while they waited for the verdict to be read and forced a smile on his face when they won. He silently backed Nate up when Ernshaw confronted him, and participated in the celebration for a little while before excusing himself and making his way back to his apartment.

He just needed to be alone. He needed to grieve.

And if- no, when.

_When_ he saw his wife again, he was never letting her out of his sight again. He didn't care if it was too dangerous. He was keeping her by his side so something like this would never happen again.


End file.
